Figure Composition
1936/1937
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 40.7 x 50.9 cm (16 x 20 1/16 in.) framed: 56 x 66 x 8.9 cm (22 1/16 x 26 x 3 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.43.51
Art Historical Context
Mark Rothko's *Figure Composition*, created around 1936–1937, is an early oil-on-canvas painting measuring a modest 40.7 x 50.9 cm. At this intimate scale, it invites close contemplation, typical of Rothko's pre-war explorations in New York City's vibrant art scene. Donated to the National Gallery of Art by The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., it belongs to the museum's collection in the CMC department, classified simply as a painting. This work captures Rothko at the dawn of his career, before his iconic abstract color fields of the 1940s and beyond. Born Marcus Rothkowitz in 1903 to Russian Je...
About the Artist
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (born Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) stands as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American art and a central pioneer of Abstract Expressionism. Born into a Jewish family in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), then part of the Russian Empire, Rothko's early life was marked by the fear and persecution faced by Jews in Tsarist Rus...